Material-conveyer for furnaces.



T. B. CRAM.

MATERIAL CONVEYER FOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26. I9I5.

2 SIHEETVS-SHEET I.

Patented July 16, 1918.

T. B. CRAM.

MATERIAL CONVEYER FOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26.1915.

1 ,272,9 18. Patented July 16, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

TIM B. GRAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE RAILWAY MATERIALS COM- PANY, OFOHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MATERIAL-OONVEYER FOR FURNACES.

Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented July 16, 1918.

Application filed July 26, 1915. V Serial No. 41,881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TIM B. CRAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Material-Conveyers for Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in general to conveyers and more particularly to apparatus for conveying material to be treated through a furnace.

It is the object of my invention to provide a conveyor of relatively simple construction which will operate positively to convey material through a furnace with a etc by step movement and which will success ully withstand the high heats which are incidental to the treatment of materials in furnaces.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a material conveyer for furnaces, whereby the material is moved substantially continuously through the furnace.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent as it is better understood by reference to the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section through a furnace equipped with my conveyer;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the mechanism for actuating the conveyer;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section through a slightly different form of my invention;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the mecha nism for actuating the conveyer illustrated in Fi s. 4 and 5.

Re erring to the drawings, a furnace is illustrated which comprises the brick work 1 held in proper position by buck-stays 2 and tie-rods'3, it being understood that the particular form of the furnace is illustrative merely and that the invention 1 may be applied to furnaces of various forms to accommodate the particular nature of the work. A burner 4 is provided in which oil or pulverized solid fuel may be burned to' supply heat to the furnace, it being further understood that other forms of burners may be employed or that the furnace may be heated by a coal or wood burning grate accordin to the usual practice.

At eit er end of the furnace the arches 5 provide openings 6 through which the material to be treated may enter and leave the furnace on the hearth 7 which forms a work support. Disposed longitudinally of: the hearth 7 are a plurality of slots or openings 8, two be'in shown in the present instance although 0 viously one or more may be provided as is expedient. Within the slots 8 members comprising a plurality of refractory elements are supported by the supporting members 10 operating within the chambers 11 formed in the brick-work constituting the base of the furnace.

The supporting members 10 are connected at each end to the boxes 13 surrounding eccentrics 14, mounted on the shafts 15, which are preferably provided with sprockets 16 and connected by a chain 17, one of the shafts 15 being driven from a suitable source of power (not shown). A table 18 is supported by means of a suitable bracket 19 at the inlet end of the furnace and the work may be placed thereon and pushed through the opening 6 into the furnace during the operation thereof.

The operation of my conveyer should be apparent without further description of the structure thereof. As the eccentrics 14 revolve in unison the supporting members 10 will be given a combined. upward and forward move ent at each revolution thereof and the refractory elements 9 will'be similarly raised above the hearth 7, upon which the work rests, and will lift the work and move it forward a definite distance, depositing it again upon the hearth 7 as the refractory elements are withdrawn by further movement of the eccentrics 14. The operation proceeds without noticeable shock or jar and, as will be readily understood, the material to be treated will move along the hearth with a step by step movement in which it reaches the delivery end where it may be received by any suitable mechanism and the treatment of the work continued.

It is frequently desirable to impart a substantially continuous movement to the material in a furnace and I have, therefore, illustrated in Figs. 4 to 6 of the drawing a form of my conveyor mechanism, which is adapted to accomplish this result. The furnace is identical with that previously described in connection with Figs. 1 to 3, being provided with a hearth or work support having a plurality of slots or openings 8 through which the conveyer mechanism about to be described projects into the furnace to engage the work. The arches 5 provide openings 6 at either end of the furnace through which the material to be treated may enter and leave the hearth 7.

Within the openings 8 members each comprising a plurality of refractory elements 20 are disposed, two pairs being illustrated in the present embodiment of my invention,

although obviously any suitable number may be employed so long as they are so arranged as tocarry out the intended operation as hereafter explained. The refractory elements 20 are supportedby the supporting members 21 operating within the chambers the base of the furnace.

22 formed in the brick-work constituting At each end thereof the supporting members '21 are connected to the boxes 23 surrounding eccentrics 24 mounted on the shafts 25, which are preferably provided with sprockets 26. A chain 27 provides a driving connection between the sprockets 26 and one of the shafts 25 driven from a suitable source of power (not shown).

As is clearly shown in Fi 6, the alternate eccentrics 24 are secured to the shafts 25 so that the points of greatest eccentricity thereon are oppositely disposed and hence, as will be readily understood, the alternate supporting members 21 will move in oppo-- site directions during the operation of the conveyer, one pair of members 21 being at their highest point of travel while the other pair is at the lowest point of travel, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

A table 28 is secured by means of suitable brackets 29 to the furnace at the inlet end thereof and preferably the supporting members 21 extend beyond the inlet end to the furnace and operate in suitable openings in the table 28, so that work laid thereon will be picked up by the conveyer and moved into and through the furnace. It will be obvious that the structure last described, while shown only in connection with Figs. 4 to 6, is equally applicable to the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3.

The operation ofthe present embodiment of my conveyer should be apparent without further description of the structure thereof. The shafts 25 are driven in unison through the sprockets-26 and the chain 27 and the supporting members 21 will be given a co mbined forward and upward movement at each revolution of the shafts 25 and the re fractory elements 20 will be similarly raised above the hearth 7 upon which the work rests and will lift the work and move it for ward a definite distance depositing it upon the hearth 7 as the refractory elements 20 are withdrawn by furthermovement of the eccentrics 24. At the instant the work is deposited on the hearth 7 by one pair of memers, comprising the refractory elements 20, the complementary pair of members will risrthrough the openings 8, pick up the work and move it forward another step toward the exit end of the furnace. The operation proceeds Without noticeable shock or jar and the movement of the work step by step is substantially continuous through the furnace and without the rest period which characterizes the movement of the work in the structure illustrated \in Figs. 1 to 3. The work is delivered from the exit end of the furnace to any suitable mechanism, whereby the succeeding treatment may be carried out.

Obviously in both forms of my invention as herein explained the enlarged chambers open at both ends, as clearly shown in the drawings, permit a continuous circulation of air about the metal suporting members so that the members are maintained in a comparatively cool condition and are prevented from burning, regardless of the temperature maintained above the hearth. Because of the difference in temperature of the chambers and surrounding atmosphere when the furnace is in use, a natural draft is maintained and it is unnecessary to provide artificial means to cause the air to circulate.

It will be apparent that I have devised and perfected a work conveyer for furnaces which is extremely simple in construction and, therefore, not liable to derange ment and that owing to the smoothness of operation the work will proceed through the furnace positively and systematically without danger of piling up therein with resultant damage to the material and to the furnace.

It will be further apparent that various changes maybe made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A furnace comprising a hearth having a plurality of longitudinally disposed spaced narrow slots and relatively enlarged chambers therein beneath said slots open at both ends to the atmosphere, supports in said chambers extending beyond the ends of said eccentrics whereby said refractory. elements 13( are caused to move in an arcuate path up:

wardly and forwardly in said slots, an inclosing shell forming a furnace above said hearth, and means for supplying heating gases to said furnace, said chambers being adapted to permit the circulation of air about said supports thereby cooling and protecting them from the heat of said furnace.

2. A furnace comprising a hearth having a plurality of longitudinally disposed spaced narrow slots and relatively enlarged chambers therein beneath said slots, said chambers being open to the atmosphere to permit circulation of air therethrough, supports in said chambers extendingbeyond the ends of said hearth, refractory elements mounted in said supports and projecting into said slots, means for actuating said supports to cause said elements to move in an arcuate path upwardly and forwardly in said slots, an inclosing shell forming a furnace above said hearth, and means at one side of said hearth to supply heating gases to said furnace.

3. A furnace comprising a hearth having a plurality of longitudinally disposed spaced narrow slots and relatively enlarged chambers therein beneath said slots, supports in said chambers extending beyond the ends of said hearth, refractory elements mounted in said supports and projecting into said slots,

means for actuating said supports to cause said elements to move in an arcuate path upwardly and forwardly in said slots, an inclosing shell forminga furnace above said hearth, and means at one side of said hearth to supply heating gases to said furnace.

4. A furnace comprising a heating chamher having a fixed hearth provided with a pair of longitudinal chambers intersecting opposite ends of the furnace, the top of the hearth having relatively narrow longitudinal slots communicating with the respective hearth chambers, one end wall of the furnace having an inlet opening extending transversely across the hearth, the opposite end wall of the furnace having a corresponding discharge opening, supports extending through the respective hearth chambers and projecting through the open ends thereof, refractory materlal upon the supports and adapted to project through the slots and into the heating chamber, and eccentrics mounted externally of the furnace at both ends thereof, beyond said chambers, the cocentrics being associated with the supports for imparting reciprocating and combined upward and forward movements thereto.

TIM B. CRAM.

Witnesses:

J. G. CoNTAN'r, Gus BLUEMEL. 

